Myth of first 20 questions- lead to weak Gmat-Timing!!!!

[arunmaharashtra]

Hi Stacey,
I have taken two Gmat real test.
First test 430 (Q38 V17)--completely panicked.
Second test 530(Q38 V25)--timing killed my score.
My target was 680 to 700 +

Second Test scenario:
I reached the exam hall.Was very confident. Did my AWA and IR were OK as the score does not carry much importance. Yes I used them to settled down and relaxed.
Quant:
Started with Quant well. 7 Question I believe where right.
8th question was probability-weak section. Wasted time on it to check whether I can do it. Skipped it. 9th Question panicked with a huge 6 line(half the screen) Geometry question. Couldn't figure out what was it. Actually these are my strength, I could have solved if I had stayed calm. But yes I was not. Then till 15 question I said to myself to be calm and was progressing well. I even tackled a hard problem.Felt nice. But suddenly I could not do a simple division(decimal fractions) as I was not very systematic with my writing. I was all over the place. It was pretty straight forward problem. I wasted some time to get it. Unfortunately, I did not see the time. I randomly skipped last 11 question and even missed the last question. (Ps : The last was a very easy algebra question) felt sad that I missed it.
Verbal:
I said to my self I can still pull it. Started very slowly. I was struck in a SC question to choose between two answers.RC and CR went fine.But, again the timing hit me hard. I had 15 min 21 verbal question. I panicked. I started randomly selected the last 10 question thus, landed up with a dismissal score of 25.

What I did in my preparation :
Never took a complete sitting test (always splitted them)
Never did the math OG 13 completely(all question I mean)
Finished Verbal OG 13 completely with timing and thus was very confident as I scored 35 once in the test
Took enough Mgmat test with proper timing and skipping. Reached 45 (only Quant tests). But then I thought devoting more time to the first 20 question helps the score. In Gmatprep tests I have scored Q50 and my strategy was to give good time for first 20 question skip few in the middle and then catchup in the last. But this did not work out in the real test as I lost confidence in the later questions.
In general I am good in Quant-of course topics Probabality is my weakpoint. In Verbal everything was average but gradually I started liking them and I improved even I solved the SC in less than minute. RC--reached 3 question passage from 10 min to 6 min--as I cut the detail part and concentrated the content. CR was always Ok but I take around 2 to 3 min.

I am planning to sit for the test in one month and plan to score more that 650 and apply to the school soon. The problem I believe is that I was aiming too high thus missing on basic things which is timing thus pulling my score drastically.
My main question to you : How should go ahead. Should work only weak areas of Quant.
Take only full length test ?
What strategy you suggest for skipping ? Should I skip even if I am 80% reached with problem
What timing chart I should follow. Currently I followed :
5 65;10 55;15 45;20 35;25 25; 30 15; 35 5.---but I did not strictly followed them
Verbal :
10 55; 20 35; 30 18; 41--- same did not follow them strictly.

Please advice on how should I plan my self for one month. I will strictly follow it.
Thanks a lot for your great support.

[arunmaharashtra]

Hi Stacey,
I took a MGMAT test again to know what I am doing wrong. Fresh start.
Gave everything from AWA to Verbal. Felt bit better, a complete test.

I always had timing issue in my mind.So I made sure that I just skipped if I do not know any question. But still there was always a temptation of answering the question correctly :).. However, I did skip well in Quant and sticked only to my strong areas. I did not care about first ten or twenty questions.

I scored 590.(Q44 V 29).. I know its again low for a targe 680 plus. But now I think where the problem lies.

Verbal : 14 --88 percentile
31 --79 percentile
41---53 percentile-----:(---exact same scenario ran out of time as in real gmat( 10 question wrong in a row -6min)

Quant : I was steady in skipping..but still I had timing issue. Finally I had time to recover in the last 10 questions. But still dropped from 67 to 62. I believe more time management in quant is also required.

Please advice things to be planned in one month to kill this timing problem. I am reading your mock and timing analysis articles. They are perfect medicine I believe for a sick gmat patient :)
But would still prefer some input from your side what exactly I should focus in a month to achieve my target.
Eagerly awaiting for your reply.

[StaceyKoprince]

Responding to your first post first.

It's not ideal to pick your test date now, actually. It's going to take as much time as it takes - you can't necessarily pick a test date and just make it happen by that date. For instance, you have some pretty serious timing problems and it typically takes people at least 4-6 weeks to get a handle on such serious problems (and then you'll still have more work to do beyond that).

First, read this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/

Print it out and read it every day for the next two weeks. This is your mindset while taking the test. You're not actually trying to get everything right. As long as you internalize this mindset, you won't panic when you get some questions wrong, even when you get something wrong that you "should" have gotten right - because you know that this is how the test works.

Read these and see whether anything might help you to manage your nerves on test day (you'll be nervous again next time, too!):
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... mat-score/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

And just to make sure, you now know that:
1) The earlier questions are not worth any more than the later questions.
2) You are going to have to guess on some questions, no matter how much you study. Your only choice is WHICH questions.
3) The most important thing is to have as steady a performance as you can throughout the section. Let go when a question is too hard or will take too long, and get yourself all the way to the end of the section, giving yourself a shot at each question.
4) Take the tests under 100% official conditions, including essay, IR, and two 8-minute breaks.

Next, these two articles will help you with time management:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

For content / how to study, start here:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

If you want more advice on any particular content areas, let me know what is giving you trouble. If you want, you can use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT*** (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... ts-part-1/

*** If you've only taken tests under very non-official conditions, don't analyze those. Take another test under full official conditions and then analyze that one.

Figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as what you think you should do based on that analysis. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)